Adventures in Bag making - The Shoreham beach bag

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Adventures in Bag making - The Shoreham beach bag

Designing and writing a new quilt pattern is not an easy business! Especially when the project concerned is a seaside quilt and it’s October! Of course I know this is completely the wrong time of year to be popping out a design that is all about summer holidays - but then…just as this project has taken me much longer do than I ever intended, I figure that all you stitchers and quilters out there need time to plan. What could be nicer on a dreary winters day than making a project for the summer days to come.

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'Stitched with Love'

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'Stitched with Love'

If like me you love anything in the genre of ‘Sewing things’ you’ll know how hard it is to resist when a new pattern comes out that is just perfect for the wall of your sewing space. And so it was when I saw Camille Roskelley’s new little mini quilt pattern ‘Stitched with Love’. I decided immediately that it was on the to do list and ordered the pattern. It arrived last week, along with at the equally irresistible, gorgeous bundle of the ‘Rifle Paper Co’s’ latest bundle of fabric - ‘English Garden’ and an autumn wind that just set the tone for my weekend.

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Festival of Quilts and a new quilt design

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Festival of Quilts and a new quilt design

I decided to start with a new quilt pattern and this time it was easy to decide what to do...it's been on my list for quite a while.   'Shoreham' is going to be a really pretty, fun project with a lovely seaside feel and it all stems from this photograph.

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The Nutcracker Christmas Tree Skirt Pattern

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The Nutcracker Christmas Tree Skirt Pattern

It has been a bizarre week!  Despite the unusual heatwave that has been with us for quite a while, I found myself rummaging around in the garage, lugging boxes of Christmas stuff into the house, putting up the tree and decorating it...taking photos and then putting it all away again - even Basil the cat thought I had lost the plot.  However, it was totally worth it because now I can bring you my new pattern....a Christmas tree skirt.

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A SCANDINAVIAN SOJOURN

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A SCANDINAVIAN SOJOURN

It came about that my daughter was to attend a tech conference in Stockholm and she suggested that I might like to tag along to revisit a few old haunts.  I was just delighted and we decided to add on a few days in Copenhagen beforehand as well.   Having lived in Stockholm for 3 years until 2014, I was glad to have a chance to recharge those Scandi vibes which always make me feel wonderfully clean and inspired and this little trip provided plenty of opportunities to find this again.


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Adventures in Bag making - A lollipop flower tote

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Adventures in Bag making - A lollipop flower tote

Recently I bought a couple of beautiful little Japanese embroidery books on Etsy and was totally inspired by them to make an embroidered bag.  I knew before I began that the embroidery would be the easy bit for me....the bag making...not so much, but I also wanted to challenge myself to make something a bit more upmarket than the few patchwork boho type bags I have made before.

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A Seascape Shawl

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A Seascape Shawl

I can't remember when I have ever posted about knitting in my journal and I have to say that although I absolutely love hand knitted things, I have not been one for doing it myself.  My Mum was a wonderful knitter and I did learn when I was a youngster, but apart from a brief flurry when my kids were little, in general I haven't done much wool work at all.    That doesn't mean, of course that when I am at the Knitting & Stitching Shows, I don't somehow get sucked into the wonderful world that is hand knitting today.... long gone are the days of boring old patterns and the rise of artisan wool and a community that is incredibly creative means that the choice out there is fantastic.

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A Cornish Tale

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A Cornish Tale

A Cornish Sojourn - now that is just the tonic after a gruelling winter, a sick house and flagging spirits....and so it was.    I am bubbling with inspiration from the sweeping coastline, the incredible gardens and the charming Cornish villages, peppered along the seashore.  It is a land of myth and legend and I can see why - the imagination is free to roam around rocky islands, smugglers coves and ancient castles.  

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An embroidered Wildflower Garden Project Bag

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An embroidered Wildflower Garden Project Bag

I may have mentioned to you before how much I liked the bi annual magazine 'Making' and this week I got the new spring issue.   As usual, it is to swoon over....indefinitely.  Packed full of beautiful, contemporary makes, both knitting and sewing, it is just gorgeous.

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The Abbey Embroidery Pattern

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The Abbey Embroidery Pattern

So I have a new embroidery pattern to introduce today and I am really delighted with this one.  It began because we took a long weekend in Whitby.  Have you ever been there?  You should....it really is an absolutely lovely place.

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The Cactus Quilt

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The Cactus Quilt

I retreated to the sewing room with the idea that I wouldn't work on any patterns or kits or plans, but that I would just sew something for our home.  It took me all of 30 seconds to decide what.  Sitting in a basket on my cutting table for the last few weeks has been Elizabeth Hartman's Greenhouse pattern.

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A little patchwork elephant

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A little patchwork elephant

We have a new little one just arrived in our extended family and I wanted to make her something special.  Hot on the success of my patchwork Santa, I turned to my Tilda books for inspiration.   This time it was the a little elephant in the Tilda Studio book that caught my eye.  Her books never fail to entice me into making something as they are so beautifully presented.

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